Low MSME participation in the national economy hampers job creation and the development of modern products and services. A stronger private sector in Belarus will lead to sustainable economic development, job growth, and increased incomes for the people.
FACTS:
- USAID helped launch the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) in Belarus in 2011, providing state-of-the-art knowledge, skills, and connections to thousands of entrepreneurs.
- TechMinsk Accelerator has engaged 291 young tech entrepreneur participants (30% women) in in-depth training and mentorship in English. Graduates of TechMinsk created several internationally known companies and unicorns, including MSQRD, OneSoil, PandaDoc, Trackduck, Friendlydata, StoryLine, LungPassport, and EightydaysMe.
- 18 Startup Schools were established in the regions of Belarus from 2016 to 2020. Close to 14,000 participants (31% women) received training in relevant topics. Around 1,200 startup teams and enterprises benefited from this program.
- USAID helped pilot 18 Startup Schools Junior seasons to educate school-aged children on entrepreneurship basics; 196 schoolchildren developed their entrepreneurship and leadership skills in 2019-2020.
- Four Best Start-Up Idea competitions were organized for young professionals and future entrepreneurs in Belarus. A total of 359 startup teams were supported, 59 received funding. All participants got free access to 6 online courses on business planning, financial and risk analysis, and marketing.
- USAID helped create a venture funding market in Belarus. Belarus Business Angels Network AngelsBand was founded with USAID support in 2018. Venture Capital (VC) Academy (vc.imaguru.co) was established. Overall, 260 future investors (20% women) attended online and offline educational courses, including those in the VC Academy.
- The leading Belarus private business school expanded its reach to the regions, converting 42 courses into a distance-learning format. Over 1,200 entrepreneurs (55% women) completed training. Five Regional Centers of Excellence in Entrepreneurship were established; over 6,000 entrepreneurs (52% women) benefited from their services.
- Close to 3,400 representatives of rural microenterprises (67% women) improved their financial literacy. Over 1,100 people (55% women) improved their rural business skills, and over 1,400 people (55% women) improved their agricultural skills. Unique microleasing program for rural areas was launched, benefiting 317 rural entrepreneurs.
- 81 trainers were certified to conduct practice-oriented Plan Your Future financial literacy courses for rural households, incorporating best international practices in financial planning.
- USAID and the International Finance Corporation helped to improve the regulatory environment for SMEs. About 40 legislative acts were developed, and 16 were adopted in 2010-2017.
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AID-VENTURE project's participants